In the newspaper Rassviet, on August 5, there was an article by I. Kondratiev, in which the author criticizes us, the sons of the peasants: "You ignoramuses, you sluggards, you do not want to learn, you don't want to become more civilized; you don't do a thing." Mr. Kondratiev writes that he is ready to call himself anything but Russian because he is ashamed of his nationality in America--because the behavior of his fellow countrymen over here is not to his taste.....

I am proud to call myself a Russian. I think that one's culture is not dependent upon one's nationality. You, as an intelligent man, know well, or should know that one's nationality has nothing to do with one's culture. It all depends upon one's education, one's bringing up, plus one's personal character and general behavior.

You, Mr. Kondratiev, say that when we came here from Russia, we were illiterate, and that we remain so; that we don't read anything and don't want to read, that we may read brief pamphlets, but we would not even think of reading the works of Tolstoy, Dostoievsky, Andreyev, and the other great Russian writers and thinkers.

It is evident from Mr. Kondratiev's article that he knowsvery little about the Russian Colony. As far as I know, wherever I have been among the Russian people, they all read books. If they don't read books on philosophy, or Anna Karenina, it is because these works are written in a language that we, the children of the peasants, do not understand. All popular booklets and pamphlets written in simple language, we read, because we can easily understand them.

You ask us why we do not attend the concerts given by Russian artists. I can answer you briefly: ask them (the Russian artists) to lower the admission prices, i. e., instead of $2.50 and $3.50, they should charge only twenty-five or fifty cents for admission. Then we would be able to attend. Also, don't 3forget to ask them to sing in Russian, instead of Italian or French. And even if they do sometimes sing in Russian, they don't sing our national songs, which we understand, but the ones which we do not understand. Sometimes one or another Russian organization asks those prominent Russian artists to appear before the Russian Colony. They will demand several hundred dollars, or they will refuse to appear, saying that they are ashamed of the Russian people, just as Mr. Kondratiev is. I ask, How is it possible for us to listen to the concerts of such artists? Besides, we receive many letters from our families and relatives in Russia, telling us that they are dying like flies from cold and hunger, and from the accursed hands of the Bolsheviks.

Mr. Kondratiev accuses us of not attending public lectures, and of not paying due respect to the lecturers. Every man of sound mind can testify to the fact that no other national group in the United States or Canada shows as much interest in public meetings and lectures, and in politics, as the Russian Colony. But now I will tell you why we have refused to attend meetings 4and lectures recently. Citizen I. Kovalov has mentioned the fact that before and after the Bolshevik revolution, we attended all [kinds of] meetings, lectures and public forums; we collected money for general welfare; we placed everything we could at the altar of success of the Russian revolution. We obeyed Trotsky, Bucharin, Volodarsky, Gurevitch, Stoklitzky, Stolar, Shatov, Losev and other "civilizers" of the Russian Colony in America. We believed that their ideas would enlighten us, and that they would lead us to a free, cultural life, where there would be no slaves and no oppressors, and all would be equal. But alas, those "civilizers" robbed us here in America, and then left for Russia, where they began to "civilize" our parents, our brothers, our sisters and our relatives, and they succeeded so well, that they have already sent twenty-five per cent, if not more, of the population to the next world. And you, Mr. Kondratiev, charge us with not being civilized.

Now let me say a few words about our national homes. I remember that about twenty years ago, our Russian Colony tried to purchase a building for a 5national home, where the colonists could gather, to study and develop themselves. But the trouble was that as soon as our peasants got together, an "intellectual", followed by a few of his cohorts, would appear. They would start to quarrel over the leadership, and soon the group would break up. Now they say that the colony is ignorant, uneducated, uncivilized and lags behind our contemporary civilization. They blame us because we have not accomplished what other national groups have accomplished. I ask this question of all those who seek to put the blame on us: "You want us, do you not,to play baseball, football, basketball, and other sports which are so popular in this country?" Every member of our colony who is sane will tell you that we do not want this kind of recreation. We cannot afford to build hospitals, universities, and other schools, because we, if we are not completely unemployed, earn so little that we make hardly enough to live on.

In conclusion, I wish to say to you, Citizen Kondratiev, that we, the sons of the peasants in America and Canada, earn our living by our honest labor. At the same time, we try to educate ourselves as much as our time and circumstances allow.

And to you intellectuals, I offer this advice: learn to value the labor of our peasants as you value your own work. Then we shall respect you as we respect Mr. Noravsky, Mr. Okinitzov, and other intelligent leaders and teachers, who work day and night for the welfare of the Russian Colony in America, receiving meagre pay but satisfied with the fact that by living among us they can teach us more. Then we, the sons of the peasants, and workers, together with you, worthy intellectual workers, will go forward toward a cultured life.